


Aftermath

by yuletide_archivist



Category: Alexander Trilogy - Mary Renault
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-01-01
Updated: 2005-01-01
Packaged: 2018-01-25 03:17:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1628675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuletide_archivist/pseuds/yuletide_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Sacred Band has been destroyed, but there are still lovers in the world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Aftermath

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Rosemending

 

 

_They went down to the water and washed the blood from their hands. Hephaistion loosened his shoulder-cloak and wrapped it around both of them. They walked on by the river into the hanging shadow of the willows fed by the stream._

\--Fire from Heaven, p. 361

They sat in the quiet for some time, the din of Phillip's crass revel only a faint whisper now in the darkness. Hephaistion felt sheltered here, and the battle itself now seemed like a dream, but Alexander's distress still strained his brow. Hephaistion leaned into him, caressed his friend's face with nose and lips, but the lines faded only a little.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked at last, resorting to words to see if Alexander still needed them.

"The soldier on the bank." Of course, he had known how it grieved Alexander, to see the man who died on his face, crawling through the mud to bring his lover water. "No, not even him. What did it feel like to be the one waiting for him, fighting death to see his lover's face one last time?"

"He knew. He must have known."

"He would have hoped. He wouldn't have let himself think it."

"The pain of his wound would have been nothing next to that." Hephaistion did not want to follow Alexander where his thoughts led. Some things should not be contemplated when the gods had already given you another day of life.

But Alexander turned to him and gripped his arms with tender ferocity. "I would have waited for you forever. Hermes would have had to drag my shade from my body."

Hephaistion leaned even closer, touching Alexander with gentling hands. "No, he wouldn't. I would have made it back."

Then he came closer still and made sure that Alexander ceased to think of anything.

 


End file.
